Wicked Game
Winter's so cold that year that every breath lingers in the air, as if the weather itself had colluded with the Dark Lord and agreed to keep everything under mist, wind and snow. The snow that was now deep across the grounds, and piling ever higher against the windows, frosting upwards on every glass panel. The ice on the windows gave the moonlight a blue hue, and everything inside would look eerie if it weren't for the fire cracking away in the fireplace, emitting a much warmer light.
Nagini observed the couple with her great yellow eyes. Her Master's mood had been uncharacteristically happy for these last few weeks, and all she knew was that it somehow related to these two creatures. There was a certain darkness to them, something familiar. Something akin to what her Master possessed.
Obviously robbed of their youth, they stood tall and graceful still. Their features were sculpted, their hair dark, their eyes piercing. Her Master was fond of them, she could gather as much, and they seemed fond of one another, judging by the way they tended to be together, touching each other all the time, even if just barely. Fingers across the backs of hands, knuckles brushing arms, feet and ankles that liked to twine beneath tables. All of this Nagini had seen over the last weeks, and all of it made her wonder.
She slithered closer to them, though being careful not to disturb them, staying close to the wall, concealed by the shadows, fighting the urge to coil her body by the burning fireplace. She stilled, and she watched, as the couple remained unaware of her presence.
The woman wore a long, flowing dress, the fabric shimmered when it caught the light. It looked like it would be soft to touch, and it was of a dark, deep colour. Plum, like the fruit her Master would sink his teeth into sometimes, sucking the juice off the flesh. She wondered if this woman would be as sweet as the fruit, if her Master would be pleased with her. The woman made her hungry in a new way, though she felt like biting all the same. The man looked like he might. He wore dark robes embroidered with silver thread, creating elaborate patterns on his cuffs and collar.
The man stood behind the woman, his arms wrapped around her waist, his face partially hidden by her curls. Their conjoined silhouette was drawn by firelight, and there was barely any movement to them. Quiet. That's what they were. Quiet and still like only predators were capable of.
Nagini tilted her head at the sound the woman then made. Laughing, she thought it was called. Snakes could not, but people had many ways of laughing, and that made it difficult for her to associate the sound to the concept. Anyway, the man had lowered his head closer to the woman's, and she had replied with a sound that seemed happy.
The man moved, turning the woman towards him, and they both stepped closer to each other, their limbs tangling in a way that was hard to grasp for her. They started to move then, in tandem, and Nagini could only tell that something was missing, though not quite the what.
Music, she realized. It was music that was missing, but they acted like they could hear it, like they were attuned to the same song. The man had started, and he led the woman in slow, small circles, never straying far from the fireplace. The woman was the one to stop the dancing, standing on the very tips of her feet and placing her lips on his.
Nagini felt like she should leave the room. This was not something she was meant to see, this was private. She felt trapped. She could not move, enthralled that she was by the way the couple's arms had wrapped around each other, by the little sounds they made, by the way they even smelled different now. It was enthralling, but it made her feel uncomfortable, and the notion that she should not be watching only grew in her. But so did that peculiar form of hunger.
Her attention was caught by a familiar presence approaching them. She raised her head, and her tongue tasted the air. She found the cold scent of her Master in it, the tang of iron and the trace of smoke he carried at all hours. She hissed, louder than she should, both a warning to the couple and a greeting to her Master.
The couple cared nothing for it, still enchanted, their mouths still together. Nagini wanted to crawl up to them and bite. It was improper to behave like that around the Dark Lord. She hissed again, and again she was ignored.
Their Master walked into the room, the flames reacted to the whoosh of his robes, and only then did the couple stop. They let go of one another, though not completely, and they both bowed. A single motion enveloped the two of them, one made of true reverence, as their dark heads lowered and their eyes found the floor, and then came up again.
He had seen them, she knew. Her Master had seen these two servants misbehave, and Nagini coiled her body tighter in anticipation. Her Master could be cruel, and she liked to observe as his followers scattered like mice in the face of his anger, desperate for cover. Except the punishment she expected never came. There weren't even words of reprimand for the two gaunt but graceful creatures.
There were smiles on their faces, and a hint of softness, almost, to the crimson of her Master's eyes. The man took the woman by the hand, guiding her towards the Dark Lord. He kissed her on the lips, once more, then on her knuckles, before delivering her now soiled hand into the awaiting pale palm of their Master.
The man left the room, his steps silent on the rug and then careful and quiet on the wooden floor. The woman remained, looking her Master in the eye in the most brazen way she had ever seen anyone do. Her left hand shifted from the palm of the Dark Lord and her fingers twined with his, while her right hand was placed on his chest, over the place where his heart beat. She felt her Master's heart speed up. It made hers run to catch up.
Nagini could not make sense of what she was seeing. Now that her Master was in the room, her hunger had only grown. It was desire, she knew that now. It was easier to think when her Master was near, it was easier to translate things and sensations into words. Desire had been the faint scent in the room before, and her hunger. It was now her Master's hunger. The woman, however, had somehow made it easier and harder at the same time. Yet, no wands had been used. There was no magic to explain this.
The words, the feelings, and the memories of her Master invaded her mind. It was a blur of new information, and very little stuck in her addled mind. The woman, the witch, was named after a star, she knew that, though not the actual name. The woman seemed to burn like a star, lighting the room in a way that could not be seen, only felt. Again, desire. But also a willingness to please, to serve, that had obliterated Nagini's presence from the mind of their Master.
Nagini moved. Not carefully, not slowly, but deliberately bumping into furniture twice on her way out of the shadows and into plain view. The woman startled, her breath catching for a second. Nagini could smell the faint tang of fear. It was quickly subdued, controlled even. Her Master lowered his eyes to her while he squeezed the witch's fingers in his hand, reassuring her. His nostrils flared, and Nagini coiled her body again, keeping her golden eyes on the crimson ones. Not that those were still on her. No, her Master's eyes had roamed back to the witch.
Had she fallen from grace? She watched her Master's fingers glide over the woman's neck, never touching the skin but apparently driving the rhythm of her breathing. They landed on a delicate looking collarbone, and Nagini had to hiss. She was the only one her Master ever touched like this. Or she had been, before this witch had come into their world. Nagini moved, intent on striking this time. Half out of anger, half out of desire, all she knew was that she had to bite the woman, she had to taste her.
And then the woman stroke first. Muddled by the mind of her Master, Nagini could not react fast enough. Before she knew what was happening, the witch had kneeled in front of the Dark Lord, but sideways to him. Her left hand still touching him, claiming him, carefully wrapped round his knee, wrinkling the black fabric and revealing the shape of his thigh in doing so. Her right hand, however, had crossed the air between them and now touched her. Soft and light, her hand lay on her head. The heel on her snout, and the fingers idly moving, caressing, the gap between her eyes.
Her Master smiled, or his cheeks moved in what would be a smile had he lips to do it. His own hand dove into the mass of black curls that crowned the witch's head, his fingers digging into the scalp, and the witch purred. She offered her pale neck to the moonlight as she did, and suddenly all Nagini wanted to do was coil around her, touch her wherever and in as many places as she could.
She hissed. Her Master growled. His hand tightened and the woman rose. Nagini wished she could too. The woman's arms wrapped round his neck as his wrapped round her waist, pulling her closer, touching her wherever he could reach. Nagini's mind burnt, sheer white, for a second. Then, her Master pulled the woman away from her, leading her out of the room.
Nagini slithered across the floor, her golden eyes like molten gold, focused on the plum hem that danced just ahead of her. Her Master let the witch through the door first, and then closed it, loudly, right behind his back. Nagini slammed head first into the door, and in her rage all she registered was her Master's low, grave laughter.
Author's Note: Prompts and Challenges
Assignment #11 Games and Sports Task #2: Powder Puff Football: write about someone being hit with something unexpected (figuratively or literally).
December Writing Club: Record Collection 18 One More Sleep (word) Anticipation; Time Machine 11 Colour Silver; Showtime 6 Ralphie to the Rescue - (trait) Bold; Elizabeth's Empire 5 (season) winter; Liza's Loves 12 Fanon - I'm not explaining this either. Prompt: Write a fanon pairing, or something that's become so popular in fanon, that people have to stop and try remember if it's canon or fanon; Sophie's Shelf 18 Glide; Bex's Basement 1 Valhalla (word) Fallen; Angel's Archive 15 Why Him - (scenario) meeting the new girl/boyfriend; Scamander's Case 5 (plot point) causing a distraction; Film Festival 18 (word) desperate; Lyric Alley 11 Winter's so cold this year (quote); The Forecast Says 1st Snow (word) Cruel
366 Prompts Challenge 361 Youth
Insane Prompt List 809 Restriction no dialogue
Winter Funfair – Christmas Boxes Chocolate Toblerone (word) Quiet; Snow Globe Making Deluminator (word) Darkness, Mirror of Erised (word) Desire, Omnioculars (word) Observe; Ugly Sweaters Colour Green - Prompt (era) – Trio; Advent Calendar Door Colour 4 Plum; Nativity Play The Shepherds (word) Star; Naughty or Nice – The Nice List 27 (plot point/action) comforting someone near the fireplace; Hot Chocolate Station – Cocoa Flavors 5 Buttered Rum Hot Chocolate: (genre) romance, Write a Letter to Santa Prompt Three An elephant: (restriction) only Slytherins; Big Dinner Bash – Potatoes (actions) Roasties Hugging; Christmas Party Songs Winter Wonderland - Dean Martin (weather) snow
WC – 1 755 words